DNF Review: The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax

The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax
Verdict: I knew I should’ve stopped at the first page. PS I swear in this review…

Recommended: nooo
If you want a book-club themed book there are many better. Too many characters and all with weak stories that I didn’t care about

Summary

On paper, Jazmine, Judith, Erin and Sara have little in common – they’re very different people leading very different lives. And yet at book club meetings in an historic carriage house turned bookstore, they bond over a shared love of reading (and more than a little wine) as well as the growing realization that their lives are not turning out like they expected.

Former tennis star Jazmine is a top sports agent balancing a career and single motherhood. Judith is an empty nester questioning her marriage and the supporting role she chose. Erin’s high school sweetheart and fianc� develops a bad case of cold feet, and Sara’s husband takes a job out of town saddling Sara with a difficult mother-in-law who believes her son could have done better – not exactly the roommate most women dream of.

With the help of books, laughter, and the joy of ever evolving friendships, Jazmine, Judith, Erin and Sara find the courage to navigate new and surprising chapters of their lives as they seek their own versions of happily-ever-after.

Thoughts

DNF @ ~70%, but wasn’t a fan from page one.

I stopped bothering with this one officially at page 323 (about 70%), but I had checked out way before that. The last 75 pages I read was a lot of skimming and reading only the bits with the few characters I actually liked. I disliked this book on the literal first page when it threw shade at my home state. It did not improve.

This had so many characters that I felt like I never grew to actually care about any of them. It didn’t help that I was vastly uninterested in most of their stories anyway, but even the two I did care a bit about were so briefly visited that it wasn’t nearly enough to keep me interested.

Here are 3 moments from very early on that immediately made me dislike the book.

1.

I swallow back the hurt and anger.

Nate is going to Europe where he’ll be on the run, surrounded by people, and fully occupied doing business while I… another swallow of unpleasant reality. I’ll be filling my time with tennis and yoga and lunch with friends. Extra volunteer shifts. Unneeded mani-pedis. Finishing the book we’ll be discussing at our January book club.

SHE’S COMPLAINING ABOUT MY DREAM LIFE. This bitch is so ungrateful! She thinks it’s a tough life to pursue hobbies and interests, spend time with friends, exercise, volunteer to help others, and indulge in some little luxuries. With no financial pressure. I’m immediately checked out of this book for such an unlikeable character, especially since I didn’t think it was going to end with a “she learns to be grateful” arc (it didn’t.).

2.

Stan and Meena downsized to a two-thousand square-foot condo in a Buckhead high-rise. We stayed put.

It turns out it’s hard to hide from each other and each other’s annoying habits in that kind of square footage. (Which is undoubtedly why even the least-expensive homes in the Atlanta suburbs are so massive.)

My actual house is just over 1000 sq. feet of living space, and my partner and I do just fine. I don’t think the space was the issue in that relationship. This character (same as above quote) is wildly out of touch… or at this point maybe it’s the author. 😐

3. Scene where a woman’s father tells her to stop crying because it’s making him uncomfortable, and then follows up by saying her lips were made for smiling.

rage vomit

Yeah, it’s supposed to be a nice moment of fatherly love. It failed entirely by making her pain about the male gaze and needs, then saying something sleazy that undermines her emotions. FUCK YOU DUDE.

This is literally less than a quarter of the way into the book. I don’t even think I had gotten to all of the characters at this point. Nooooooooooooooooope. I stuck with this for way too long.